Rarotonga

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(This blog covers the whole 2 weeks of our stay in Rarotonga, since the Wifi was too expensive to keep uploading data and pictures there)



The flight from LA to Rarotonga was about 11 hours overnight. I invested in one of those semicircular neck pillows at LA airport, and using this, the long flight was not too bad at all.

Arriving at Rarotonga island was exciting. As we flew in we could see this picture postcard tropical island surrounded by a coral reef through the window. The whole island was lush and green and mountainous in the interior.

Immediately after clearing customs we were greeted by the pre arranged airport transport driver, who threw a garland of flowers over each of our necks, before bringing us over to the waiting minibus. There were 2 other couples from the flight on our minibus, and we were to become good friends. There was a german couple travelling for 3 months with their 5 month old baby! (Who was sweet and very contented), and a Californian couple and their 3 and 3 quarter year old son (already a good swimmer and fearless of fish and water) who were staying almost nextdoor to our guest house.

The island of Rarotonga is only 32 kilometeres in circumference, and there is one main road going around. For transportation most people seem to use scooters rather than cars. In cars and trucks the attitude is pretty laid back, with passengers standing up to enjoy the breeze in the back of the trucks. You even see big elderly women wearing bonnets with flower garlands around the brim riding around on scooters, and not many people bother with a helmet. There is a clockwise bus that goes around the island on the hour, and an anti clockwise bus that goes the other way half an hour later.

The beach was a minutes walk from our guesthouse, and was also like a page from a story book. The beach is white sand and lined with palms and coconut trees. The lagoon is turquoise and very quiet and still. There is a slight tidal difference, but not that large. We were to learn that the whole lagoon was so shallow that at low tide you could wade out to the little tropical islands you could see out in the lagoon. Beyond the lagoon we could see the waves breaking on the reef, and we could see the ocean beyond looking a deeper blue. If we listened carefully, especially at night, we could hear the waves breaking all the time.

Our Guest house had hammocks strung from the trees in the garden, and a screened outdoor warm shower. There was a shared 'deck' where we could lounge about and eat our meals, or chat with other guests, and 2 kayaks we could borrow.

Everyday, as soon as anyone started to eat on the deck or prepare food in the kitchen, a hen and her chicks would come by. They were very sweet, but also rather cheeky, jumping on the table or coming into the kitchen uninvited.

There are loads of free range hens, cockerels and chicks freeranging around the island. The friendly cleaner told me that there are no foxes on the island, so the hens don't need to be penned up at night. There are also goats and pigs tethered up around the place.There are lots of dogs on the island. At first I was a bit anxious to see what I thought to be stray dogs at the beach. But it turns out that they are well behaved, non threatening and friendly like their owners. They all have owners and wear collars. One day an island dog jumped on the front of our kayak and hitched a ride all the way to a small island in the lagoon. Another hitched a ride on our friends paddle board.

Banana trees, coconut trees, and lots of exotic looking flowers and palms growing everywhere.

One other thing that seems strange to us from UK is the well tended graves in peoples gardens as well as in the churchyards. We were there for All Souls Day, so some were decorated with flowers and lit up more specially on that night.

We spent the first week relaxing by the lagoon and spending time with the new friends. We soon discovered the best places to snorkel...behind the island in the lagoon by our beach,and a little way around the island straight from the beach in a marine reserve. The lagoon immediately beside our beach had fewer fish, no young live coral, just sand, sharp stones(dead coral) and masses of sea cucumbers. Sea cucumbers are not particularly attractive...they look like big black turds on the bottom of the sea! We dont know if this is because of pollution or the many boats near the hotels.

The good snorkelling areas mentioned above were teeming with fish. Fish of every colour and size, striped and spotted and plain. Really beautiful, just like swimming in an aquarium. We could see the new young soft living coral growing on rocks. There were different coloured corals, and they looked a bit like brains. Another good thing about the snorkelling here is that the water is warm, calm and shallow. We were told there were no dangerous fish in the lagoon so we felt quite safe.

We had a funny adventure the first time we took the guesthouse kayak out. We paddled round the island to snorkel and on our way back the kayak submerged, so we had to swim back pushing it along. (We had been warned that it has a slow leak and needs to be regularly upended and emptied out).

When not in the sea swimming snorkelling or playing on the beach we could visit the swimming pool in the hotel nextdoor by buying a drink there. A very luxurious feeling place with sea view.We also built sandcastles, babysat, and sampled foods at local roadside stalls. The Cook islanders seem to be very friendly people. They loved plying baby Sofia with fresh bananas and soft young coconut. Coconut seems to be everywhere on this island. It is in cakes, sauces, and cooking. Coconuts for drinking with a straw sticking out are on sale outside many houses, as is papaya, watermelon and tomatoes. Coconut thatch is used on several traditional roofs (mainly hotels), while others just use corrugated iron.

Cook islanders seem very friendly and relaxed people.

An example of the kindness of cook islanders... a young couple just arrived at the guest house, both with big backpacks. They were accompanied by a guy laden with fruit and vegetables. Apparantly they were sitting by the road waiting for a bus from the airport when he stopped his truck and offered a lift. Then he insisted in also giving them gifts of a load of his garden produce.

The most daring food we sampled was raw fish. It was marinated in lime juice and coconut milk. It was actually quite tasty, but I couldnt help being put off by the fact it was RAW fish! Apparantly a parrot fish, some of which we had seen earlier in the lagoon.

An interesting side angle of the plentiful cottage industries happening on the island is on bin day. On bin day the rubbish is put out in 2 bags, trash and recyclables (which means cans plastics and glass here). Women on scooters can be seen going through the bags before the van gets there, and helping themselves to plastic bottles. These are filled with fruit juices, coconut water, sauces etc and sold in the market or outside the houses. There are a few big resorts on the island with expensive sea front restuarants, but an affordable alternative is to eat out at the night market. This runs 5 days a week selling home cooked food, crafts, fruit juice and drinking coconuts. There are brightly painted picnic tables to sit at and some musicians entertaining. The market is good for the budget tourist who can eat for under $10, and good for the local economy as it is all the local people selling their stuff direct to us consumers. It may not be environmentally perfect, because they use stryofoam containers and plastic cutlery, but nothing is entirely perfect in this world!

The second week we got to know many other nice travellers staying at the guest house. We spent a lot of time chatting while eating on the deck or swinging in the hammocks. Fred played a round of golf with someone, and I joined in an informal yoga session in the garden (very good for the stiff back you get from sitting on a plane for hours)

We spent 2 happy mornings creating eco-art on the beach, which we then photographed and emailed as birthday cards.

We did more swimming and snorkelling, and we went on the Cross Island Hike. The Cross Island Hike is more of a clambour through thick vegetation than a conventional hike. The path would not be recognisable as a path except for the orange markers on the trees. It involves near vertical scrambling up tree roots and descents clinging on to a rope. All makes it a bit of an adventure. At the summit it was strange, (but not totally surprising in Rarotonga), to share the view with an island hen! We got very very hot walking because we wore long sleeves and long trousers to protect against the insects.

We had not intended to go to any of the local dance displays advertised, since Fred has a phobia of local cultural events. However, when we heard a lot of drumming just outside the guesthouse one evening we had to investigate....there was a wedding taking place in the hotel nextdoor. They didnt seem to mind us standing at the back to watch the drumming dancing and fire dancing displays, which were really colourful. (When they mentioned audience participation on stage we slid off quickly!)

Tommorrow (Sunday) we will be flying off to New Zealand. Rarotonga has been a lovely relaxing place to stay, and very beautiful. Our flight is comparitively short at about 3 hours, but because we cross the date line we will not arrive until Monday evening!

It will be lovely to catch up with Kris, Nick and Leaf.

Ps. Final morning of our stay a second hen and her family arrived in time for breakfast....this one has 3 brown and 1 black tiny chicks, as opposed to the other family of 4 black and 1 brown chicks who are growing fast.

Almost all the guests went off to church in the morning!! This was in part because we wanted to support a NZ couple from a waste management company (staying at the guesthouse) who had been invited to make a short presentation there. I enjoyed the ride there on the back of a scooter (Fred enjoyed similar scooter ride to golf earlier in the week) , the hymns in Maori, and seeing well dressed congregation...but had to slip out early before the presentation so as to catch the bus to the airport.....where we now sit.

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